She waited for him to invite her in, for him to talk with her and make amends, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. If he let her in, he would have a difficult if not impossible time keeping his hands off her. He missed her terribly. One day he had been without her, and he felt as if it had been years since they had last kissed, touched and made magic.
He remained as he was standing there staring at her.
She placed one hand flat against the glass door and smiled... a smile filled with more pain and sorrow than happiness.
He moved then, walked over to the door, and pressed his hand flat on the cool glass where her palm rested and closed his eyes.
The glass turned warm and sent a tingle up his arm. He felt her softness then, the smoothness of her skin so real against his hand.
He opened his eyes and there she stood in front of him, their hands touching, their bodies close and their lips only inches apart.
Chapter Twenty-six
Sebastian locked his fingers with hers, gave a soft squeeze, and lowered his mouth to gently brush her lips before he stepped away from her.
The jolt of despair that hit his midsection halted his retreat for a moment, and then he took several more steps, needing to distance himself from her and her heartfelt emotions.
The short space did little good; he continued to feel the heart-wrenching ache in his gut, and when he turned to face her, he wondered if the painful sensation was his own or theirs combined.
“I wanted to apologize,” Ali said. “I allowed my pride to rule my senses. I should never have introduced you to my heritage in such an extreme and indelicate fashion.”
Sebastian rubbed at the back of his neck. “I doubt any other way would have been sufficient enough to convince me. I can be stubborn.”
She smiled and her eyes lingered over his bare chest thick with muscles and his arms so strong yet tender in their ability to comfort.
“I had to speak with you,” she said. “I am sorry for the intrusion, but you seemed intent on ignoring me.”
“I need time,” Sebastian said with sadness to his voice that frightened her.
“I can understand you needing time, but I need something as well.”
“Which is?” he asked cautiously.
Doubt assaulted her, his doubt, not hers. She immediately asked her question. “I need to know if you love me.”
A knife to his heart would have caused him less pain. He wanted to reach out, grab her around the waist, and yank her to him. He wanted to feel her body plastered against his, he wanted her to feel his need for her and her need for him. He wanted to make magical love with her.
Then why did he hesitate?
He voiced his doubts before he had a chance to consider otherwise. “Witches cast spells.”
“Yes, they do,” she agreed and began to understand the doubt that drove him to keep his distance.
“You cast a spell on me.”
“Yes, I did.”
“He asked the question that had tormented him since discovering that she was a bona fide witch. “Did you make me fall in love with you?”
Ali was treading on dangerous ground. There was only so much information she could provide him with regarding the spell and regarding the outcome.
She moved to take a step toward him, but his upheld hand warned her to keep her distance. She did and spoke softly and with confidence. “Let me tell you something about spells and then perhaps you will better be able to determine the answer for yourself.”
“No straight answer?” he asked with regret.
“The answer will be as clear as you wish it to be.”
Sebastian nodded and stood with his arms crossed like a warrior of old whose brute strength alone was his only shield.
Ali thought of her single weapon. True love. Would its magic penetrate his staunch defenses and allow him to see the truth?
She began. “Spells are cast for a number of reasons. Good reasons. A true witch can cast no spell that brings pain or sorrow or hinders another. A spell can never be forced only cast and presented to the heavens.”
“And the results?”
“Magic.”
“How so?” he asked.
“Magic is belief.”
Sebastian shook his head, wondering if the now involuntary movement had become an affliction. “What you’re saying is that if I believe I love you, then I do?”
“A spell cannot change a person’s beliefs.”
“But a spell can place a suggestion in a person’s mind,” he clarified.
“Yes.”
“And that suggestion can only flourish if there is something to nourish it.”
“Like you?”
“Me?”
“Seducing me, chasing me, tormenting me with your outrageous nature,” he insisted, stopping his pacing to glare at her with eyes that questioned and accused.
“You call that nourishment?” she asked incredulously.
His rational mind warned him to slow down, consider what she said, but his thoughts were anything but sane at the moment. And he wanted answers, direct and simple answers. Not damn stupid riddles.
“Did you cast a love spell?” he insisted with a wag of his finger.
“Yes, I cast a love spell, but have you listened to anything I’ve —”
“Enough,” he said, interrupting her. “You cast a spell that placed the suggestion of love in my mind, and then you chased after me to nourish that suggestion, and now you expect me to believe that I fell madly in love with you of my own free will. That my sleepless nights and dream-filled days, which you constantly invaded, did not help in securing my predilection for you.”
“Have you listened to nothing I’ve said?”
“I have heard enough.”
“You heard what you wanted to hear.”
Sebastian threw his hands up into the air. “Yes, finally.”
Ali immediately concealed her emotions, shutting herself completely off to him. He had erected a solid shield and was allowing nothing, absolutely nothing to penetrate it.
“Do you hurt, Sebastian?” she asked candidly.
“You’re damn right I do,” he all but shouted at her. “I hurt so badly I feel like punching someone or something. I rage with the pain this whole absurd incident has caused.” He shook his head as if not believing his next words. “And through it all I still want you.”
He laughed, a crazy laugh. “I still want you. Can you believe that? After learning that all this is nothing but a stupid spell, I still ache for you.”
Ali ached as well. Ached for his misunderstanding and what his logical mind was doing to him, to them, to their future.
He grabbed her then like a man long in need and short on restraint. He held her up against him and took her mouth with a savage need that befitted a warrior.
The kiss was electric, sending sparks of passion surging through them both at an alarming rate.
“I want you so badly,” he said, his mouth separating from hers only long enough to utter his desire.
“Why?” she whispered against his lips and kissed him long and hard.
“I don’t know,” he admitted when she finally released him to answer and then his mouth returned to hers. His hands slipped down over her backside, kneading her firm flesh and pressing her against him.
“You make me crazy,” he said and slipped his hands up around her waist to guide her along with him toward the couch.
She realized his intentions. He needed to make love with her; wild, unbridled love. And as much as she longed for his intimate touch and the magic they made, she understood it was not possible. Not now. Not until he settled his issues. Maybe never again.
She kissed him softly. “I love you, Sebastian, forever and always.”
He felt that stab to his gut again and closed his eyes.
“Ali,” he whispered gently and opened his eyes.
She was gone.
He looked around the room, spinning round in his haste to catch a fleeting gl
impse of her. She was nowhere.
Had she ever been there?
He dropped down on the couch. She toyed with him. Tormented him. Nourished his unquenchable need for her.
She was a witch.
He bolted off the sofa and into his bedroom, slipping out of his shorts as he entered the bathroom.
He needed a cold shower.
He stepped under the rushing spray and yelped when the cold pellets stung his hot skin. He immediately adjusted it to a more tolerable temperature and stood with the lukewarm water soaking him.
He had to gather his sane thoughts and focus on the logical, the here and now. He was driving himself to the brink of insanity and that was unacceptable behavior. He was acting foolish, almost like that of a young school boy completely distraught with the idea of losing his true love.
True love.
“Hah,” he said aloud. “How can you truly love a witch when she can cast a spell on you and force you to love her?”
Cast to the heavens.
What was she trying to tell him? If the spell is cast to the heavens, then is it fate that decides the outcome? And not the witch?
But the witch plants a suggestion, he argued with himself.
Suggestions, however, can only grow where there is fertile ground. Otherwise it would wither and die off.
Had Ali sensed this and cast a spell that would nourish them along until each decided?
He had certainly been attracted to her on first sight, but then she was beautiful. But he had been involved with beautiful women before. What made Ali different?
The way she was so familiar with him on sight. Her touch was sure and direct, her intentions clear. She presented no hidden agenda, she told him what she wanted and who she was, and she openly cast the spell.
It was almost as if they belonged to each other from that first moment. He had never even given thought to a brief affair with her. It was all or nothing.
She certainly hadn’t pushed the issue of a lifetime commitment. He had. She had talked of their mating and a glorious love affair, but it was he who wanted more.
He sighed, braced his hands on the wall, closed his eyes, bowed his head, and allowed the water to ease the growing tension in his neck.
He had to keep his eyes closed. The reminder of how she affected him was still much too obvious and needy. She had felt good in his arms, as if she had always belonged there.
Forever and always.
He lifted his face to the spray... a mistake. The pin-like jabs assaulted his lips and reminded him just how much he continued to ache for the taste of her.
They had made love in the shower a few times and with a much needed smile he recalled the feel of her naked skin against his. His hands had ridden the curve of her slim waist down to the blond tangle of curls between her legs. She had giggled and wiggled her nicely rounded backside against him, and he had grown even harder.
She had encouraged him to touch her. All over.
And he had.
He closed his eyes once again and pictured her there against him. His hands reached out and touched her just as she had urged him to, just as he had wanted to and he moaned.
He moaned with the exquisite feel of her upon his hands.
Warm, wet, and wonderfully real.
o0o
Ali informed her aunt that she wasn’t feeling well and intended to go straight to her room and remain there the remainder of the evening.
Sydney did not argue with her. She simply informed her that she would be there if Ali needed her.
Ali understood she could cry on her aunt’s sturdy shoulder whenever she wished, but this evening she wanted to cry alone. She took herself straight to the shower, the scent of Sebastian so heavy upon her that she could barely breathe without throbbing for him.
Tears joined the warm spray that glided down Ali’s face. She had tried so hard to make him understand, to see reason. This time his logic had failed him. What was she to do? She had no idea and at the moment she didn’t want to think about it.
She wanted to empty her mind and relax. Tomorrow would be time enough to reevaluate the situation and make plans or simply realize that she had done all she could. The rest was up to him.
She raised her arms upward, stretching her body and wiggling her fingers to ease the tension.
She gasped and looked quickly around her. She had left a hand on her breast, she was sure of it. She paused a moment and listened. Nothing. She closed her eyes and stepped under the shower. Her unfulfilled desires were playing tricks on her.
She gasped again, this time feeling her breasts being cupped firmly and her nipples being toyed with, and then she knew.
She moaned softly when she felt his body move up behind her. She had thought she had successfully shut herself off to him, but somehow he had penetrated her defenses and managed to connect with her.
Foolish.
She sighed, whimpered and laughed all at the same time. Only a powerful love could connect two people this way, and he didn’t even realize it.
She could fight him, her power was strong enough, but she didn’t want to. She surrendered to his touch and the pleasure he brought her.
Ali.
Her name sounded like an aching plea that spilled almost reluctantly from his lips, and she smiled as she raised her arms up to slip around his neck and rested her cheek next to his.
Touch me... all over.
He did. His hands cupped her breasts and squeezed lightly enjoying the feel of their fullness. He released them and slowly worked his hand down over her stomach, exploring her with the strokes of a talented artist who created fine art. She felt so good and he didn’t want to stop touching. His fingers glided leisurely down between her legs.
Open for me.
She did and welcomed the intimate intrusion with a moan that rushed over his cheeks to whisper across his lips.
You’re mine.
Yes, I am. All yours, forever and always.
Not long enough.
She smiled at his predictable response, a response that always filled her heart with joy.
He stroked her with a rhythm that demanded she respond, and she did.
I want you.
His breath was rapid and his passion out of control.
Then take me.
He did. He turned her around in his arms, braced her back against the wall, lifted her up by her backside for her to wrap her legs tightly around him and entered her so swiftly that she cried out.
All reason vanished and there remained only the two of them, locked in magic. They rode to a fast and furious climax, breaking together in an explosion that only magical love could create.
“Ali,” he whispered and looked directly into her eyes, being there at that moment with her. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she said. “Forever and—”
“Not long enough,” he interrupted softly and shook his head as he faded away.
o0o
The water turned cold and jolted Sebastian back to his senses. That is if he had any senses left.
He steadied himself, pressing a firm hand flat on the shower wall while the water raced over him and helped return him to reality.
“Damn.” She had felt so real, tasted so real... been so real?
Had she invaded his thoughts? But he had thought about her. Had he invaded her thoughts? Was it possible?
He turned off the shower and quickly toweled himself dry, wrapping it around his waist when he finished and he rushed still half wet to the phone.
The housekeeper put him on hold until Ali picked up the phone a few minutes later.
“Are you all right?” he asked. He told himself he didn’t know why he called her, but he knew. He was aware.
Her voice shook and she spoke slowly and so softly
“Yes, I think.”
Sebastian had to strain to hear her. “I didn’t realize, Ali,” he said in a way of an explanation.
“Now you do,” she said. “Please. Please be
aware of your thoughts.
“How?” he asked stunned by what logic would argue was merely a dream.
“When you discover the answer; you will know the truth.”
Sebastian remained silent and confused.
“And, Sebastian,” she said tentatively.
“Yes?”
“Be foolish.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
One day off of work was enough for Sebastian, especially when the only thing he accomplished was to sulk. He wanted to resume his life.
His life.
And that was the problem. What had happened to his life? Ali had turned his normal, logical world upside down. Now when he looked at people he wondered who they really were. Mortals or witches.
He had decided running away from this dilemma would do him no good, so he chose not to go away but to stay, and besides, working when something troubled him always managed to help him solve his problem.
His calendar was full, which he expected, having ignored his business for the last two days. Several appointments with new clients and a business lunch with a senator would keep his mind occupied for the whole day.
Tonight he would have a late supper out and go home and drop straight into bed. He would shower in the morning when his mind was clear of Ali.
Her voice constantly sounded like a soft whisper in his head. He had maintained solid control of his thoughts after the shower incident. He didn’t need any more erotic astral projection, if that’s what it had been.
He had not only been stunned by the episode, he had been shocked to see that he had been in Ali’s shower, not his. And while he attempted to convince himself she had the power to move him about, he still found it difficult to believe that she could have caused the interlude. He knew, sensed, and understood that the seductive scene was entirely of his own doing.
He shook his head, certain now that he was permanently afflicted with the annoying reaction and headed out his office door.
“Remember you have a two o’clock and a three-thirty appointment,” Ms. Smithers reminded as he walked passed her desk.
“Not a problem. Senator Milton is a busy man and isn’t one to waste time.”
The Wedding Spell Page 21
